History Trivia / WatchMen

** At the time they were promoting Watchmen, Moore and Gibbons discussed a potential prequel idea around the ''Minutemen'' days, albeit insisting they weren't interested in any sequel of the comic, nor were they interested in other ideas floated to them by DC (such as comics focused on the Comedian in the Vietnam). Moore later said that had DC not stiffed him and Dave Gibbons, he ''might'' have eventually come around to work on Minutemen, which in any case would have been highly different from the series put out in ''ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen'' decades later.

** In [[https://collider.com/jeffrey-dean-morgan-on-set-interview-the-losers-read-or-listen/ a 2010 interview]], Creator/JeffreyDeanMorgan stated that he didn't enjoy his role as Comedian, and compared the experience of working on the film unfavorably to that of the 2010 film adaptation of ''ComicBook/TheLosers'', in which he starred as Clay. According to him, playing Clay was far less complicated than playing Comedian, and because of the radically different approach, ''The Losers'' gave him more freedom and allowed him to be more playful with his character.

* CreatorBacklash: In [[https://collider.com/watchmen-malin-akerman-interview a 2020 interview]], Creator/MalinAkerman admitted that she believes she was way out of her depth during the process of the film's production, with the film's scale and her working alongside highly trained theater actors while having no training herself contributing to an intense feeling of impostor syndrome. She stated that her experience on the film motivated her to recalibrate career-wise and pursue projects that aligned more with her likings and interests, and abandon her previous mindset of simply taking the jobs that came her way.
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dean_Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan]] didn't enjoy his role and felt that playing Clay in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Losers_(2010_film) The Losers]] was far less complicated in comparison to his Watchmen role as Comedian. Because of the radically different approach, Morgan stated that it gave him more freedom and allowed him to be more playful with his character. "This guy has a real, actually much better sense of humor than the Comedian did," said Morgan. "He's not nihilistic. It's completely different. This is much lighter. A much lighter load for me. There's also kind of room for me to interpret this as a project where, in Watchmen, you had to– look, I was playing the Comedian in the most revered comic book ever written. I was confined to that. In this, I could fine-tune a lot of what I thought Frank Clay is and get to play with it a lot more."

* CreatorBacklash: Alan Moore regrets that this book helped usher in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, admitting that he was undergoing a CreatorBreakdown while writing it. He has no issue with the comic itself though. He described in [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alan-moore-donates-screen-royalties-black-lives-matter-1235590134/ a September 2023 interview]]:

* FollowTheLeader: It, along with ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'', is credited with ushering in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks and the graphic novel era.

* ParodyAssistance: Real-life artist Joe Orlando is mentioned as a comic book writer in-universe responsible for a run of stories in ''Tales of the Black Freighter'' and later commissioned for the creation of [[spoiler:Veidt's alien squid.]] Orlando himself illustrated a single page intended to be an excerpt from this run; this is the only illustration in the original series not illustrated by Dave Gibbons.

** Jeffrey Dean Morgan didn't enjoy his role and felt that playing Clay in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Losers_(2010_film) The Losers]] was far less complicated in comparison to his Watchmen role as Comedian. Because of the radically different approach, Morgan stated that it gave him more freedom and allowed him to be more playful with his character. "This guy has a real, actually much better sense of humor than the Comedian did," said Morgan. "He’s not nihilistic. It’s completely different. This is much lighter. A much lighter load for me. There's also kind of room for me to interpret this as a project where, in Watchmen, you had to– look, I was playing the Comedian in the most revered comic book ever written. I was confined to that. In this, I could fine-tune a lot of what I thought Frank Clay is and get to play with it a lot more."

* TrendKiller: The failure of the film killed any attempts at R-Rated graphic novel-based movies for nearly a decade. It wasn't until the success of ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'' in 2016 that they were considered again.

* AcclaimedFlop: A common joke among critics was "Who watched the ''Watchmen''? Not many." It was a comic book-based movie that was [[UsefulNotes/RestrictedRating rated R]], which is potentially a box office killer for this sort of film (although it's said to have come from Dr. Manhattan's frontal nudity for the most part). Also, being based on a comic book, mainstream audiences expected a superhero romp but got a cerebral deconstruction of the genre instead.

** Creator/TerryGilliam, Creator/DarrenAronofsky, Creator/PaulGreengrass, and Creator/DavidHayter were all attached to direct the movie at various points of production. Gilliam had [[Script/{{Watchmen}} a screenplay written by Sam Hamm]] (writer of Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'') to work with, while the others had one by Hayter himself. Much like the final film and more so than Hamm's, Hayter's treatment was pretty faithful, more prone to simplifying or cutting things out rather than changing them. However, it was set in the then-present day (2005), Laurie's alias was changed to "Slingshot" (Dr. Manhattan gives her the power to shoot energy balls), and the ending is changed even further than it was for the final film. [[spoiler:The squid is also replaced, this time by a solar energy beam. More importantly, Nite Owl changes his mind about compromising and (barely) defeats and kills Ozymandias, since [[AndThisIsFor "that's what Rorschach would've done."]]. Well, having worked on ''Franchise/MetalGear'' really makes your mind go places.]] Though, according to Hayter, he actually managed to get the approval of Creator/AlanMoore concerning his version of the screenplay.

** [[https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/patrick-wilson-zack-snyder-watchmen-1234885412/ Nightowl actor Patrick Wilson has said]] that this is one of his few movies that he watched "front to back."